The invention relates to artificial resin materials degradable under the influence of water, as well as throw-away packaging materials, such as film, wrappings, cups, bottles, trays, boxes and the like, which usually are used for the packaging of consumer goods, such as foodstuffs, groceries and household articles in general.
As is known, because of the increasing use of plastic packaging materials that subsequently are thrown away, serious problems of pollution and waste have arisen because most plastic materials that are used for packagings, have a long service life in the open air and consequently when thrown away or piled on dumping-grounds for household refuse, are degraded to a very small extent.
A solution for these problems of pollution and waste can, of course, be found by using plastic materials for packaging purposes that, when they are thrown away or dumped on dumping-grounds, are degraded and start forming a part of the soil by the action of water, rainfall, moisture, wind erosion or biochemical processes and in a harmless form are incorporated in the natural environment. Against this desired degradation of the plastic materials the need should be weighed, however, that the durability of the material is preserved under normal conditions of processing and storage and that the degradation proceeds gradually, so that use in packaging is possible.
In prior art Netherlands patent application 71 05713 it has been proposed to prepare polymeric packaging materials that degrade under the influence of the ultraviolet light of the sun, but indoors have an unlimited service life if they do not come into contact with direct sunlight. A drawback of these polymeric packaging materials is, however, that the problem of degradation when they are dumped on dumping-grounds and refuse dumps is not sufficiently solved, since in such cases they are not exposed to to sunlight.